The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

I had put split washers on the adaptor plate bolts. This elevated them and one was just proud enough to brush up on the flywheel. (Which also tells me the flywheel has a slight runout/wobble).

There are no washers required to hold the adapter plate on, as you have found out, the bolts will fowl on the flywheel.

thanks mart and dave.....seemed like a good idea to put split washers on, maybe not so smart.

the wish list is long. Lightened flywheel would be great, but the expense can't justify it. The car won't be on the track and she'll have enough poke to keep me entertained.

I'm still confused about lining up the marks on the adaptor plate and the flywheel. Surely these marks are to ensure the flywheel matches to the crank the way it came off. Seems pointless if you can rotate the engine and still fit the flywheel so that it matches the adaptor plate mark.

just seen the price of a set of head studs.

waiting to see how Mark went at Bathurst....it was quite an elite gathering, a few hundred people missed out on an invite.

http://www.fosc.com.au/Pages/Bathurst/B ... pdates.htm

and while Mark/Phil were blitzing around Bathurst, I was removing paint from the underside of the bonnet and redoing the flywheel/clutch assembly.

...one day...

Interestingly on a TR7 engine the rear engine gearbox mounting plate is fitted with countersunk setscrews. On a Dolly 1850
the heads stand proud and foul the TR7 flywheel but not the 1850 one...
Looks like its close on a Sprint too...
Makes you think about crank thrust tolerance doesnt it?

Jonners

part of the problem seems to be the flywheel sits into the recess and onto the spigot bush on the crank. You are right though Jonners, with split washers and poor thrust washer fit, recipe for disaster.

this whole project has slowed down to a snail's pace, but it is a determined snail and work is planned.

the head is sitting on top of the engine in the right place on the studs, waiting for the replacement head bolts before I screw anything down. Today Tony, the tech teacher at school arrived for a cuppa with the welded up cross shaft.

we've gone from this...



to this...










and the other end...



he's a good man is Tony !

basically he welded up the worn part of the shaft at both ends, made a centre hole in the shaft and was able to squeeze it into the lathe. We were going to file it down, but Tony got it into the lathe which was good, using a hole borer to squueze between the lever arm and the shaft to do the end closest to the lever.

so, waiting for a few parts. Busy weekend coming up, harvest time for the grapes. Weather has gone from heat wave, which ripened the grapes too quickly, to 20mm of rain or so and the danger of powdery mildew on the skins. Meanwhile half the sheep are almost dead from starvation so I had to let them into the vineyard where there is a lot of feed under the vines (and the vine leaves) but the buggers can escape from the vineyard so they have to be rounded up every few hours and shown back to where the feed is. Now the Corellas are descending on the place and feasting on the grapes alongside the Cockatoos. Cockatoos are intelligent and while they can be scared with the starting pistol, only shooting a few will convince 'em to go away and I'm not willing to do that, so have to put up with seeing them chomp whole bunches off and drop them on the ground. Glad to see the grapes actually in the bin and on their way to the winery.

bloody pleased with that cross shft though, Tony did an excellent job

stu

NewGuy (stew in NZ) nudged me for an update. Unfortunately the shell still hasn't been started, George has had it for 4 months now ! Just come back from a week on holiday in Fiji. Wife scored us a cheap deal and all we had to do was sit through 90 minutes of hard sell time share propoganda. we walked away with wallets intact and had a great holiday.

I got the bushes and parts for the bell housing when I got back, along with some new head bolts. Spent today checking the oil pump and fiddling with the chain tensioner, seeing how the spring releases from the ratchet when it is fitted. I made up a spacer thing iaw the pic in the manual. Some engine pics is all I've got for the moment. Head went back on yesterday.

Working in tandem on the stag, got stuck with a seal in the power steering control unit. seems my unit is a mark 1 and I got a mark 2 seal. Another slight delay.


back end. Waiting on the bell housing/clutch release to be fitted. Should have been todays job but I had other things pop up.



not sure exactly when to hit it with engine enamel. I guess everyone just masks off the nice areas and hits everything else with black ?


bit of a redundant photo. Dodgy Black and Decker workbench. As soon as I get the timing gear sorted I'll whip it up on the hoist and onto the floor to do the sump and bell housing.


the current state of play. waiting on parts again to get the timing chain etc in. The wear on the straight guide is enough to need replacing but the curved guide is practically virgin. Fiddling around with the auto-tensioner, as you probably gathered from questions in this forum.


shiny head gear. The engine is at #1 TDC atm with the cam aligned with the rocker marks. I've taken care not to turn the engine until the timing chain is properly installed. The head has been torqued down. Felt strange torquing the head without the timing chain cover being in place.

stu

Looking good there Stu.

Can't quite make it out in the pics but the lifting lug on the back of the cylinder head should be pointing towards the front of the engine.

the one with the lifting eye in the plate yeah ? the one with the gasket underneath it ? the one in the first pic ? I think it only fits one way....and it is flat...not quite following you here Mart.

but the one on the front of the block could be turned around though, I took it off to get the timing chain guides in and might have put it on wrongly. It could easily bend back over the block instead of forwards away from it.

..and not going quite that well, my effort today was to bend what was probably the perfectly serviceable pressure relief spring in the oil pump SPRINTPARTS to the rescue !

reading the haynes book, they insist that the core plug at the front of the block should be replaced whenever an overhaul is done. Quite adamant in fact. whaddya' all reckon ?

Mart is on about the lifting eye that bolts on to the back of the head with two bolts through the cover plate. It should lean towards the front of the engine. (the one neareest you in picture 1)

ah, that one, it has a slight (5 degree) lean, i'e just gone out and sorted it. daylight helped. Thanks mart and neil.

frustration is starting to set in. Delay in parts and the spray painter is still cruising along in neutral.

Got to work on the last bits of paint left on the doors and priming the boot/bonnet/doors so George doesn't have to do them.

But, got the straight timing chain guide yesterday so after what feels like a long break, back into reassembling the engine. It had been a crappy day at work, but a whole night to myself....therapy.

started well enough, with the smarts on how to release the timing chain tensioner using an allan key, that went in but I noticed it was hard to tighten the two holding bolts. I then observed that the slipper wasn't riding in the middle of the chain.....I'd forgotten to put the spacer plate behind the tensioner. Easy enough to undo it and take it off. Unfortunately the steel bush that fits into the block on the rear face of the tensioner stayed in the block. Couldn't get enough purchase using multi-grips (carefully) and applying heat, so thought a screw extractor could give the levearge needed to pull it out. Managed to break the screw extractor in the centre hole of the bush, blocking it completely.

Next step was to carefully drill some 1/8" holes around the screw extractor (the extractor was hardened steel, so couldn't be drilled out) through the bush, eventually, without damaging the block, got it drilled out and then a bigger drill bit to drill out the bush. carefully collected every iron filing using a magnet and reused the old tensioner body and the new slipper. Got the thing in with the backing plate....probably should have realised I was making mistakes and wasn't concentrating enough...but I persisted and fitted the timing chain cover with new seal and gasket. Had a niggling doubt about having forgotten something....

the oil flinger.

it was in another parts container....so tonight take it apart again and put it in place.

Good news was that the engine turns, timing is correct, no valves banging into pistons.

...just feels so slow, long way to go, but 4 months and I'm starting to get frustrated at waiting every step of the way. The downside of living in the country I guess. The delay means I'm forgetting stuff and working stop/start rather than getting a roll on.

question, anyone have the specs on the oil pump spring ? I know how long it is supposed to be but I need another one and was wondering if I could source one from a spring place.

cheers

stu

Keep your chin up Stu, your doing well. I know it can be frustrating waiting on others, I've been there myself. It's the highs and lows of restoration. You'll have a big beam on your face when it all comes together.

Hi Stu
Keep at it Mate
Somebody will correct me if i am wrong but if you find a spring with the same
1 ... Wire Gauge (use Verniers)
2 ... Outside Dia
3 ... Number of windings overall
4 ... Number of closed windings each end
5 ... correct length , and made from a quality spring steel , Spring pressure should be the same.

Steve

Keep at it Stu. Take your time & double check everything.

As you know, mines been in the spray shop since the end of February. Should have had it back last Saturday but that didn't happen. new ETA is Thursday and I have a week off of work next week.

thanks guys, timing cover removed, gasket saved, flinger in place, whole thing bolted back together, easy enough job. 20lb/ft stripped the centre bolt on the timing cover it felt like a lot.

extraordinary how the little things work. I'd been wanting to use the recessed hex bolts for the valve cover for ages, got some, they worked. <sigh> sad muppet.

Tiff is back from adelaide, so I'm not sure it would be smart to spend all night on the car.

Good news, thanks to Sprint95's suggestion and the discovery of a 2500TC being wrecked just a few km from here, I think I've sourced some headlining material. Looks in great condition. Small win.

I've been watching your "time till finished" counter enviously Mart

stu